1
GIIEENSEORO
THURSDAY, NOYEMBER 11, 1875
POETRY.
Footsteps on the Other Side.
Sitting in niy iiumbie doorway,
Gazing out into the niglit,
Li-^tening to tiie stonny tumult
Withaldndof sad delirlit,
ait 1 for the lo\ed tvho comes not,
One wiiose steps I long to liear;
One who. though he lingers fi-om me,
Still is dearest of tiled ar.
Soft he comes—now, heart bo quiet,
Leaping in triumphant pride—
Oh, it is a stranger footstep.
Gone by on the other side 1
Horton's house she bent her energies to j
soften the anger We evinced for his i
daughter, but Edward Horton’s character
was t,®o stern and obstinate to yield even
to the persua.sions of his beautiful wife
and Mrs. Horton was forced to confess
All the mgiit seems filled with weeping.
Will Is are wailing m ■ui-ufidly ;
And tile rain-tears altogetlier
Journey to t.he restless sea.
I can fancy, sea. you murmur.
As they with yo tr wators tlow,
Like the grief of single beings
Making up a nation’s wo
Branches, bid your guests, be silent!
Hiisha momcut, fretful rain !
Breeze, stop sighing, let me listen--
God grant not again ill vtiin !
In mv cheek the blood is rosy.
Like tlie blusif's of a bride—
.Toy!—ala.s, a stranger footstep
Goes by on the other side !
that she had utterly failed to move her
husband’s heart with pity toward poor
Margaret.
The man who became the hnsband of
Margaret Horton had only :wo qualities
tliat could recommend him to favora.ble
notice. He loved his wife, and he was
remarkably amiable But he was one of
those persons who drift along in the world
without aim or object. He had no means
ami as soon as he realized the new respon
sibilities he had assumed, instead of going
to work like a man, he sat down and com
menced to refine. This state of things
had the effect of throwing Margaret upon
a sick bed.
-Mrs. Morton being apprised of the sit
nation of iter step-dau liter, immediately
brought the matter to the notice of her
husband, but when he had listened to her
appeal he turned awav, forbidding her to
mention the matter again in his hear-
directions to the servants. Rising hastily
he walked into the parlor.
‘What a lovely night it is,’ exclaimed
Mrs. Horton.T took a run down to the
meadow, and I declare that I almost
wished to remain out of doors till morn
ing
ing.
All, how many wait forever
For the stejis that do not come !
Wait until the pitying angels
Bear them lo a peacel'nt homo.
Many in the still of inidiiiglit,
In the streets have lain a id died,
While the sound of huinan footsteps
Went by on the other side.
How He was Con!T[uered.
BY PAUL PBUME.
Edward Horton sat in his solitary apart
ment one evening in June, and gazed over
the beautiful landscape presented to his
eyes with anything but pleased counte
nance. His face wore a gloomy aspect,
and he moved about in his seat with a
quick and nervous motion.
Mr. Horton was a man of large wealth,
the greater part of his fortune having fal
len to him by inheritance. Before he had
reached middle life his wife had died, and
it was not until the daughter she had
borne him had attained her seventeenth
year that Edward ITorton married again.
The day that he again entered the matri
monial state, Margaret Horton, to show
her displeasure at the act, eloped with a
young gentleman named Cantwell, and
married him in a neigh boring town,
Mr. Horton was a proud and stern man
.and sometimes apt to be overbearing in
his conduct. This act of his daughters
aroused all the ire of his nature, and
he vowed that he would never recog
nize her again as his child, neither
should she ever inherit a penny of his
"wealth.
The lady who became the second wife
Edward Horton was a kind hearted
and sensible woman. She was very pret
ty, veiy accomplished, and yc.ung enough
to have been Mr. Horton’s daughter.
Froni the iBoiaent she entered Mr.
The evening we introduce him to the
reader, his wife 'nad just left him. For
sometime past she had been in the habit
of absenting herself fora short time every
evening, and Edward Horton had bugnn
to torture nimself with doubts that made
him exceedingly unhappy.
Could it be that his wife was growing
tireh of his society? Every evening she
managed to glide away from his presence
unobserved, and never did she in the most
distant way, all iide to the fact or its cause.
His nature was too proud to jierrait him
to question her upon the subject, fcr that
would have been a sort of admission that
he was jealous, and not for all his wealth
doubled would he have acknowledged
such a thing.
The evening in question was cle.ar and
pleasant Away in the west a pale and
solitary star twinkled in the blue sky, and
the birds weie still twittering their good
night among the leafy boughs as Edwaid
j Horton, enable to endure the suspense
which racked his heart.seized bis hat,
and rushed down the only path by which
his wife could leave the grounds. Throw
ing himself beneath some white thorn
hushes he waited patiently for events. An
hour passed, and the clocks from the stee
ples of the city struck harshly upon his
ear. He gazed toward the town a half
mile away and wondered if his wife had
gone there.
Unable to solve the mental question, he
walked back slowly to his house, and look
ed carelessly about the room. His wife was
nowhere to be seen.
Disgusted with all he saw about him,
and out of temper and reason, he went in
to a summer-house and threw himself up
on a bench, and was quickly absorbed in
his thoughts. Scarcely had he begun to
annoy himself with conjectures, ere he
heard the voice of his wife giving some
Eilward Horton gave a sort of grunt, at
which his wife laughed.
‘Why couldn't she have asked me to ac
company her ?’ he thought, bal he diii not
utter it.
The ne.xt evening Mr. Horton’s mind
was in a tumult of anxiety. He was wait
ing to see if his wife would disappear
again. A servant brought him a card;
there was a gentleman who wished to see
him.
‘Why could not people call during Ihe
day ?' he muttered as he went out to meet
the stranger.
It was only a person who came to .solic
it a subscription to a new.spaper whose
principles Edward Horton thoroughly de
tested. He snapped the canvasser up so
sharply tt-at he shut his book and left the
house in a hurry. When Mr Horton re
entered the parlor his v.dfe was uo longer
there.
This state of things could not go on
forever. There must be a termination
sooner or later. Mr. Horton walked out
upon the piazza, and met one of the ser
vants.
'Where is Mrs. Horton?' he asked.
'Don’t know sir,' replied the woman.
‘See if you can find her, and tell her I
wish to speak to her,’ he said.
After a few minutes the girl returned
and said that Mrs. Horton must be out, as
she could hot discover her.
■- Hardly had she done speaking when
Mrs. Horton appeared upon the scene.
Her husband’s brow grew dark as he re
marked :
‘Down to the meadow again this even
cattle from the noonday sun. Mr. Horton
and his wife seated themselves upon a
large stone and were about to open con
versation, when a man spr. ng up from
behind one of the trees and ran away with
all his speed
Edward Horton jumped to his feet, anti
drawing a pistol from his pocket he lev
eled it at the retrealiiig figure. Just as
lu.s wife struck his arm the weapion dis
charged.
‘What do you mean by that ?’ he asked,
looking his wife full in the face, it was
still light enough to see her eyes.
‘Woubl you murder a fellow creature
for simply being beneath your trees? I
dare say it was some poor tramp who in
tended sleeping here,’ said his wife,
‘How do yon know that?’ replied Mr.
Horton. 'Suppose you had been coming
here alone, the fellow might, have assault
ed you. In future I wi.sh you would
avoid this spot unless some one is witli
you.’
‘I never feel any timidity,’ rejilied Mrs.
Horton. ‘No one will molest me I assure
you.-
ing
‘You have guessed correctly,' replied
Mrs. Horton.
‘What in the w'orld can yon find to in
terest you there .?’ asked her husband.
‘Oh 1 it’s only my fancy. I love the
solitude, the chirping of the crickets, the
croak of the frogs in the far off pond, and
all the poetry which nature brings with
the hour,’ replied his wife.
If Edward Horton was satisfied with
the Explanation, he didn’t look so. But
he dropped the subject and for several
evening,? his wife paid no more visits to
the meadow.
One evening Mr. Horton announced his
intention of taking a walk to the meadow,
and asked his wife to accompany him.
At first she tried to excuse herself, but fi
nally acquiesced in her husband’s request
Mr. Horton thought or fancied that her
cheek grew pale as she took his arm. Her
step too seemed leas firm, and she was re
markably silent, and only spoke when an
swering his questions.
At length they reached a clump of ma
ple trees that stood in the centre of the
meadow, and served as a shelter to the
Whatever thoughts occupied Edward
Horton s mind du iitg his walk homeward
his tongue never uttered a reproach to the
woman who hung upon lii.s arm ; but the
following afternoon he left hi.s hou,-,e say
ing that he would not return until late at
night.
When twilight fell he was safely en
sconced Irom view behind a thicket
that grew in full view of the grove in
the meadow. Once or twice be placed
his Hand in his breast pocket until his
fingers clenched the stock of his pistol,
at which he smiled with a sinister pleas
ure.
t
Darkness at length fell upon the earth,
and he started when he heard the sound
of approaching footsteps. By and by a
man pas,sed so close to him that he Cuuld
hear his breathing. He proceeded to the
maple tree.s, where he halted The stars
gave just enough light for Horton to keep
the stranger in .si^ht, Suddenly he saw
a white figure coming across the green
sward. There was no mistaking that
form. A strange sensation came over him
as he saw his wife meet the .stranger.
The cordial manner in which they shook
hands sent a thrill of jeaJousv through
his heart, and he was on the pointof con
fronting them, when a second thought
determined him to make himself further
acquainted with these noctural meetings.
Mrs. Horton took the man’s arm and thev
hastened awiy toward the city, the hus'-
band cautiously following and never los
ing sight of them.
At length they stopped before a small
cottage, and rapping at the door, entered"
A moment later Edward Horton, with
pale cheeks and straiaing eyes, had his
face at the window. The sight that met
his gaze.caused him to feel a disdain for
himself so utter that he fain would have
reeled away from the spot had not curi
osity kept him fast.
Margaret wis sitting in a chair, looking
very feeble and sick. Her husband who
had entered with Mrs. Horton had seated
himself near her side, and her step mother
was kissing a yonng babe, just as Edward
Horton pieered under the blinds.
(2b ?ithpage.)
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